FIG. 1 shows an electrical connector currently widely used in the field for electrically connecting a chip module to a circuit board. The electrical connector includes an insulating body 1, where a plurality of receiving slots 11 runs through the insulating body 1, a plurality of terminals 2, in which each of the terminals 2 is correspondingly disposed in one of the receiving slots 11, and a plurality of solder balls 3, respectively disposed in one of the receiving slots 11 and correspondingly contacting one of the terminals 2. Each of the terminals 2 includes a base 21, a first retaining portion 22 formed by extending downwards the base 21, a second retaining portion 23 and a third retaining portion 24 formed by bending and extending two side surfaces of the first retaining portion 22, and a retaining space 25 formed together by the first retaining portion 22, the second retaining portion 23, and the third retaining portion 24. The second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 are distributed in symmetry to the first retaining portion 22, the solder ball 3 is received in the retaining space 25, and both the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 contact the solder ball 3.
However, the terminal 2 has some defects in the structure thereof which result in several problems mainly as follows.
First, the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 apply retaining forces to the solder ball 3, and the retaining forces generate arms of the retaining forces of the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 to retain the solder ball 3. However, limited lengths of the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 result in undesirable lengths of the arms of the retaining forces of the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 to retain the solder ball 3, thus causing great strength and limited elasticity of the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24, so that at the time of inserting the solder ball 3, a large pressure is required to insert the solder ball 3.
Second, during the soldering, surface tension of the solder ball 3 is reduced and the surface thereof is deformed, but the second retaining portion 23 and the third retaining portion 24 do not have enough elasticity to effectively retract and extrude the solder ball 3, thereby resulting in unreliable soldering, such as missing soldering or poor soldering.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.